PB 1839
Needs Assessment
Guidebook for
Extension Professionals
Joseph L. Donaldson
Assistant Professor
Department of 4-H Youth Development
and Agricultural Leadership, Education,
and Communications
Karen L. Franck
Assistant Professor
Department of Family
and Consumer Sciences
Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 5
Why are needs assessments important? ........................................................................................................ 6
When is the right time to conduct a needs assessment? ................................................................................ 6
Organization ........................................................................................................................................................7
How should a needs assessment be organized? ..............................................................................................7
Phase One: Exploration ...............................................................................................................................7
Phase Two: Assessment ...............................................................................................................................7
Phase Three: Utilization...............................................................................................................................7
Worksheet: Organizing a Needs Assessment ............................................................................................. 8
Exploration ........................................................................................................................................................10
Document Review ..........................................................................................................................................10
Assessment ........................................................................................................................................................14
Individual Methods ........................................................................................................................................14
Key Informants ..........................................................................................................................................14
Worksheet: Pinpointing Key Informants ..................................................................................................15
Personal Interviews ....................................................................................................................................16
Worksheet: Preparing Questions for Interviews .......................................................................................19
Group Methods .............................................................................................................................................20
Advisory Committees ................................................................................................................................20
Stakeholder Groups .................................................................................................................................. 22
Focus Groups............................................................................................................................................. 22
Surveys ...................................................................................................................................................... 27
Open Listening Sessions ........................................................................................................................... 34
Delphi Technique ...................................................................................................................................... 35
Environmental Scanning .......................................................................................................................... 36
Brainstorming ............................................................................................................................................37
Future Wheels ...........................................................................................................................................38
Nominal Group Technique ........................................................................................................................41
Concept Mapping ...................................................................................................................................... 42
Comparing Needs Assessment Methods...................................................................................................... 42
Cautions and Caveats When Performing Needs Assessments..................................................................... 47
Utilization .........................................................................................................................................................48
Interpreting the Results of the Needs Assessment ...................................................................................... 48
Quantitative Data ...................................................................................................................................... 48
Qualitative Data ........................................................................................................................................48
Putting the Findings Together .................................................................................................................. 49
Communicating the Results of the Needs Assessment ................................................................................ 49
Setting Priorities ...........................................................................................................................................50
Teachable Moments .......................................................................................................................................51
Worksheet: Thinking About Teachable Moments ....................................................................................... 52
Additional Resources ........................................................................................................................................ 53
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................................... 54
References ..........................................................................................................................................................55
This publication begins with how to organize a needs
assessment and includes the three phases of conducting an
eective needs assessment: exploration, assessment and
utilization. Methods for each of these stages are provided,
including document reviews, individual and group methods,
and how to communicate the results of the assessment.
This document provides helpful information and tools to help
you design, conduct and interpret your needs assessment.
Using This Guidebook
5
Introduction
Needs assessment is a process driven by the question, “What do clients
need and how can those needs be met?” (Patton, 1982). A need is
dened as a gap between “what currently is” and “what should be”
(Altschuld & Watkins, 2014). Needs assessment is a process to identify
what people need where they live, work or play. The purpose is to use
the information gained to make plans to meet those needs. What are
the needs of people you serve?
In a national assessment of training needs, Davis and colleagues
(2012) found that Extension personnel (n = 1,434) wanted to acquire
more skills and knowledge in needs assessment. The majority
indicated a need to learn more about assessing individual client needs
(69%), assessing community needs (79%), and engaging stakeholders
in program development (83%).
Needs assessment is a term with abundant meanings, often very
dierent meanings! Patton (1982) posited that needs assessment was
used in many cases to mean surveying clients about what they wanted,
“thereby making wants equivalent to needs.” Sometimes, needs
assessment is used to describe the entire situation in a community,
county or state. “Community situational analysis” is a broad term that
refers to the process of analyzing the internal and external factors
(including trends, capabilities, environment, economy, etc.) that aect
a community. The term “situational analysis” is applicable to all of the
techniques and activities in this guide.
We, the researchers, have observed that Extension personnel use the
term “needs assessment” more frequently than “situational analysis.”
We have also observed that the term “need” connotes deciency or
an unmet problem. We believe that an eective community needs
assessment would not only identify the needs of the community, but
also underutilized resources, as in, “We need to utilize our lake and
abundant natural beauty to promote tourism which will produce
substantial economic benets.” Therefore, we have chosen to use the
term “needs assessment” as a synonym for situational analyses in this
publication, and the term “assets” may be used in place of needs.
Another observation is that the term “needs assessment” is often
used to refer to the assessment of an entire community or county
population. This publication can apply to an entire community
population or a single audience within the community, such as beef
producers or families with young children.
We have prepared this publication to oer practical tools and
techniques for understanding, conducting, and communicating needs
assessment. It is our hope that this information is useful to you in
helping people, addressing the issues that aect them, improving
programs, and, ultimately, advancing Tennessee.
Eective, engaging needs
assessment is a principle of
democracy and a hallmark of the
Cooperative Extension system.
6
Needs assessments are important for a number of reasons. Our world
faces unlimited needs, but limited resources. Needs assessments
help to identify areas that will do the most good for the most people
over time. We live in a complex society, and it is not always clear
which initiatives should be conducted or em
phasized by public
service organizations. Needs assessments clarify the work of public
service agencies and promote eective program planning by engaging
advisory leaders, elected ocials, volunteers and other stakeholders
in learning and talking about important community issues. Needs
assessments are a democratic principle! Needs change over time, and
a periodic assessment is necessary to understand changing needs and
new situations that people face in daily life.
An eective needs assessment allows you to construct a more objective
picture of needs than you would receive from observation or public
discussion. The checklist will help you pinpoint when needs assess-
ments are a good idea. Because needs assessments take time, energy,
money and other resources, it is critical to decide if a needs assessment
is warranted for your program (see Table 1).
When is the right time
to conduct a needs
assessment?
Table 1. Understanding When to Conduct a Needs Assessment
Reasons to Conduct a
Needs Assessment
Reasons Not to Conduct a
Needs Assessment
2
o Your project or program is
brand new.
o You are brand new to the
community or your job.
o You want to learn more
about what the audience or
community needs related to a
specic condition.
o You need to document needs
for grant applications and other
funding proposals.
1
o You need additional
information and perspectives
to communicate with
donors, advisory groups,
elected ocials and other
stakeholders.
2
o You want to focus the
evaluation of a given program
on how well it meets the needs
of its intended audience.
3
o The audience or community
would view the assessment as
“redundant or wasteful.”
o The issue is urgent and requires
quick action.
o A recent needs assessment has
already been
conducted, and the
results are still timely.
1
Angima, Etuk, & King, 2014;
2
Berkowitz & Nagy, 2014;
3
Patton, 1982
Why are needs
assessments
important?
7
Organization
How should a needs
assessment be
organized?
To organize your assessment, think about what you need to accomplish.
Key action steps and considerations are outlined below using three key
phases: exploration, data gathering and utilization (McKillip, 1998).
These phases may also be referred to as Preassessment, Assessment and
Postassessment (Lepicki & Boggs, 2014).
Phase One: Exploration
First, determine the purpose of the needs assessment. What are
the potential uses of the assessment information and who are the
potential users of the assessment information? Identify the parameters
for the assessment. Are you looking at one town or county or a
specic audience? If you believe town mayors will be the users of the
assessment information, for example, a county-wide assessment would
not be valuable to them unless you break out data by town.
Second, identify all of the existing information available that ts your
parameters. More data are available today from secondary sources
than ever before (Borden, 2004), and you may be quite surprised at
the treasure trove of information available from multiple agencies and
organizations. Third, determine if other data still need to be collected.
Identify the methods to collect this information.
Phase Two: Assessment
Collect, analyze and synthesize all of the data. Implement your needs
assessment plan. Let’s say you nd from the National Agricultural
Statistics Service the production of cattle, hay and soybeans has been
declining steadily in your county for the past ve years. The rate of
decline is much higher for your county than for other counties in the
state. It could be helpful to determine some of the major causes or issues
that have produced the declining numbers. Is it because of weather? Is
it related to land use? Is it because producers are transitioning to other
enterprises? Farmers and retailers of farm equipment might be good
sources of information, and they may be able to describe how and why
the county’s agricultural output is changing.
Phase Three: Utilization
Use the data to set program priorities, develop an action plan to
address the needs or issues, evaluate the needs assessment, and
communicate the results. A needs assessment process is not completed
until the results are shared and utilized.
8
Worksheet: Organizing a Needs Assessment
Phase One: Exploration
• What are the potential uses of the assessment information and who are the potential users of the
assessment information?
_________________________________________________________________________
• Are you looking at one town or county or a specic audience?
_________________________________________________________________________
• What existing information do you have?
_________________________________________________________________________
• What data still need to be collected?
_________________________________________________________________________
How will you collect the data?
_________________________________________________________________________
Phase Two: Assessment
What data did you gather?
_________________________________________________________________________
How did you access the data?
_________________________________________________________________________
What did you learn or conrm?
_________________________________________________________________________
Phase Three: Utilization
What are your priorities based on the needs assessment?
_________________________________________________________________________
How will you share the needs assessment information with others?
_________________________________________________________________________
Was there overlap in the needs identied as shown by dierent sources?
__________________________________________________________________________
Worksheet: Organizing a Needs Assessment
9
We often dichotomize needs into known and unknown needs; in other
words, some needs people know about and will talk about, but other
needs are hidden to the casual observer.
Needs that are known can be described through these techniques:
• Focus Groups
• Surveys
• Observation
• Nominal Group Technique
• Interviews
Needs that are unknown are typically determined through these
techniques:
• Environmental Scanning
• Document Reviews
Another way we sort needs assessment data is by source, that is,
primary or secondary. Primary data are collected directly from the
source, such as interviews with clients, whereas secondary data are
from a third party, such as census data or data from a local Chamber
of Commerce. Traditionally, a needs assessment that uses some mix
of primary and secondary sources provides a rich and comprehensive
assessment (Borden, 2004).
Issues are often obvious. Three home fires in one month in
a neighborhood will get everyone’s attention. This provides
a teachable moment from fire prevention and home safety
programs. Taking advantage of such teachable moments
speeds adoption of recommended safety and fire prevention
practices.
Likewise, issues are just as likely to be hidden from the casual
observer. The personal bankruptcy rate is one problem that
people may not be willing to discuss. Aected individuals
just don’t stand up and say, “I have a problem managing my
money, and I need help.”
10
Exploration
Document Review
Reviewing existing data should be a part of any needs assessment
that you conduct. Document review is the foundation for your needs
assessment. These data are important for several reasons.
1. Reliable data sources provide detailed information from a large
sample size that would be dicult and unrealistic for you to
collect on your own.
2. Many topics are sensitive and may be dicult for people to
discuss such as homelessness, bankruptcy and food insecurity.
3. Data sources such as the U.S. census can provide information
over several years or decades, allowing you the opportunity to
identify trends.
Questions to ask when thinking about data:
1. What information do I need? What topics do I need
information about?
2. Will I be able to access county level data?
3. How current do the data need to be? What’s my cut-o date?
When looking for data sources, it is important to use reliable sources
of data. Reliable online sources are listed below. There are other
sources of information that can be helpful, such as local and regional
media reports that have stories that impact your communities. For
example, if there have been several house res in your community, an
important need could be re safety education. Other examples include
articles about trends in bankruptcy, crime, unemployment, etc.
Regional and county level data can be found at your local library or
at your Chamber of Commerce. In addition, agencies and institutions
that you work with often conduct needs assessments on a regular basis.
Existing data from reliable sources provide information and numbers
about a topic such as the number of farms, type of crops, health
information, education, etc. Hard statistics from the U.S. census
or a survey provide actual numbers you can include in your needs
assessment, such as the number of people in your county who receive
SNAP benets or the number of farms. It can be helpful to look at
trends in these numbers. Has the number of people receiving SNAP
benets decreased, increased or stayed the same in the past ve years?
Has the number of farms decreased or increased in the past ve years?
Has the number of farms remained the same but the number of acres
decreased? Even though these numbers are straightforward, it helps
to look at trends. Identifying these trends can be an important way to
strategically meet the needs of your county.
11
Tips for working with data sets:
1. Have a point of reference that is comparable to your county.
It is good to compare your county to the state, but it’s even
more helpful to compare your county to similar counties as a
way of gauging how well your county is doing.
2. Rates may be less reliable for smaller populations. Rates
are often based on the occurrence of an event out of 100,000
people. Because many counties in Tennessee have fewer than
100,000 people, rates often cannot be used to adequately
predict accuracy. This is especially true for events that happen
infrequently like infant mortality, suicides, etc. In these
instances, it is better to look at the actual number (rather than
the rate) and how the actual number may or may not vary
over time.
3. Dierent data sets provide dierent estimates. Make sure to
look at similar data sets over time. This is especially true for
estimates related to obesity, diabetes and heart disease. CDC
provides the most accurate estimates of these diseases, but
there are other estimates that can be used.
4. Data are only part of the overall picture. Don’t rely exclusively
on data sets to provide a picture of your community. Numbers
only provide part of the story, so it’s important to back those up
with information from other sources.
Baltimore County Public Schools (2010) listed the key pros and cons of
a document review for research as follows:
Pros
• Document reviews do not interrupt a program.
• Documents can be collected from dierent time periods.
• Document reviews are helpful for corroborating with other
sources.
• Document reviews are inexpensive.
Cons
• Documents may contain incomplete information.
• Documents may represent only one perspective.
• Documents may not “provide insight into participants’
personal thinking.”
• Documents may be out of date.
The following practices from the “Handbook of Practical Program
Evaluation” are recommended for document reviews:
• Report aggregated (group) data, and do not capture individual
identiers.
12
• Check for inconsistencies in the data. As an illustration, if
the age of a person is listed as 150 years old, the data lack
consistency!
• Make sure that you know the time period for which the data
were collected. A report published in a given year may reect
data collected over the previous ve years.
• Send a thank-you letter to the public agency that shared the
data; let them know how the data were used or how they were
valuable to you (Hatry, 2004).
The data sources listed below are examples of data sets that could be
incorporated into your document review. The websites are listed in
parentheses and the list indicates the type of data included at each site.
All of these sites have county-level data that is updated regularly.
• U. S. Census Bureau (census.gov)
o Economic
o Education
o Employment
o Families and living arrangements
o Health
o Housing
o Income and poverty
o International trade
o Population
o Public sector
• Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count (aecf.org)
o Demographics
o Economic well-being
o Education
o Family and community
o Health
o Safety and risk behaviors
13
• Tennessee Agricultural Statistics (nass.usda.gov/tn)
o Crops and plants
o Demographics
o Economic and prices
o Environmental
o Livestock and animals
o Research, science and technology
• Tennessee Department of Health (health.state.tn.us/data.htm)
o General health data
o Health reports
o Health statistics
• Tennessee Department of Education (state.tn.us/education/
data/index.shtml)
o Graduation rates
o School district performance outcomes (Report Card)
o Standardized testing results
• Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development
(tnecd.com/county-proles)
o Demographics
o Education
o Infrastructure
o Quality of life
o Transportation
o The document review is often a helpful starting point for a
comprehensive needs assessment. It can help you to identify what
is known and pinpoint what you still want to know. Document
reviews tend to be helpful especially when used with individual
and/or group methods. This process provides a sense of both what
is happening and why it may be happening.
14
Assessment
Key Informants
A needs assessment is essentially an investigation, and a key informant
is an individual who provides important perspectives and rsthand
knowledge of a situation. An assessment of the health status of the
community would be accentuated greatly by seeking the opinions
of nursing home administrators, dementia caregivers, doctors and
coordinated school health directors, just to name a few examples of
key informants.
Key informants are often very helpful to add color or additional
information to a needs assessment. They tend to be knowledgeable
and may provide distinct information. They can help you understand
why something is happening or understand the history of community
attributes. It is not recommended to use key informants solely for an
entire needs assessment because it could place too much importance
on the opinions of a handful of individuals.
Individual Methods
15
Worksheet: Pinpointing Key Informants
•
Contact name:
• Phone or email:
• Reason this person is a Key Informant:
• Key Questions:
• Information Shared by Key Informant:
•
Contact name:
• Phone or email:
• Reason this person is a Key Informant:
• Key Questions:
• Information Shared by Key Informant:
•
• Contact name:
• Phone or email:
• Reason this person is a Key Informant:
• Key Questions:
• Information Shared by Key Informant:
•
• Contact name:
• Phone or email:
• Reason this person is a Key Informant:
• Key Questions:
• Information Shared by Key Informant:
16
Personal Interviews
Personal interviews are useful in conducting needs assessments and
provide the added benet of getting to know people. Preparation is
extremely important because interviews can be challenging if you ask
about highly personal topics. Interviews mainly provide qualitative
data, such as perceptions, values, opinions and information from
personal observation (Witkin & Altschuld, 1995) in contrast to
quantitative data (quantities, amounts, percentages, proportions,
facts, etc.).
Conducting the Interview
Prepare your questions in advance and practice them so that you are
well-prepared. When conducting an interview, you should be dressed
in either business attire or in similar attire as the interviewee. If you do
not understand an answer, be honest and ask the interviewee to clarify
for you. Start a personal interview by making small talk to make the
person feel comfortable (Vilela, 2014).
Interview Protocol
When conducting the interview, ask few questions and resist the
temptation to oer advice (Creswell, 1998). An interview procedure is
recommended. A written procedure helps you to stay on task and on
time. Here is an example interview procedure:
1. If recording, test equipment in the oce the day before the
interview. Purchase any needed supplies (i.e., batteries for
the recorder).
2. Travel to interview site.
3. Engage in some small talk to put the interviewee at ease.
4. Inform the interviewee of the purpose of the interview.
5. Assure the interviewee that the interview is condential.
6. If recording, get the interviewee’s verbal permission to tape
record.
7. Ask if the interviewee is ready for you to begin recording.
8. Record the following information either verbally or in your
notes:
• Date
• Time
• Location
• Participant pseudonym
• Interviewer’s name
9. Conduct the interview (using the protocol).
10. Watch the time and do not go over time.
11. Thank the interviewee for participating.
Step 1.
Step 2.
Step 3.
Step 4.
Step 5.
Step 6.
Step 7.
Step 8.
Step 9.
Step 10.
Step 11.
17
12. Return to the oce to review notes and reect on the
interview. Reecting is important because it can provide a
context for the interview. What was the mood of the person
being interviewed? Were they engaged or distracted? Did
they have an agenda separate from the topic of interest?
What were the key ndings from the interview?
13. If recorded, transcribe the recording and reect some more.
Timing and Length
Timing is important for all interviews and should be considered before
contacting potential interviewees. Is there a certain day of the week or
time of day that the person is likely available? If you are interviewing
fast-food mangers about food safety training needs of their employees,
the lunch hour is the worst possible time to call on them for an
interview. The afternoon, say 2 p.m., might be much better.
When you contact the interviewee to invite them to participate in an
interview, it’s important to know how long the interview will last.
Practicing questions in advance and thinking through possible answers
can help you gain a sense of how long the interview will take. A useful
step is to interview friends, family or coworkers to help determine the
approximate length of the interview, to help build condence in the
questions and the interview process, and to identify any questions that
are unclear. To be considerate of people’s time and attention spans,
ideally the interview should not last more than 30 minutes.
Questions
This section will provide suggestions for developing interview
questions. Suggestions for asking about behaviors:
• More accurate information is obtained when you ask about
a specic time period rather than asking people what they
“usually” do.
• The time period you select should correspond to the topic. The
last 12 months would apply to home ownership or pregnancy,
whereas the last 24 hours would apply to eating dairy products
(Bradburn, Sudman, & Wansink, 2004).
To write high-quality questions, start with some of these prompts:
• Describe for me…
• Tell me about a time when…
• Can you give me an example of…
• Tell me about a situation that… (Gupta, 1999)
Step 12.
Step 13.
Clearly, it is more dicult to ask
a question about child abuse
or spousal abuse than about
owning a television set.
Bradburn, Sudman, & Wansink,
2004
18
Topic Domain 1: Challenges
Leado Question
• When you consider your experience as a small business owner, what
are some of your challenges?
Possible Follow-up
Questions
• What challenges do you face supervising employees?
• Do you have any challenges related to budgeting and/or
bookkeeping?
Topic Domain 2: Views on Culture
Leado Question • How has community inuenced your business?
Possible Follow-up
Questions
• What kinds of things do your customers say about the community in
your store?
• Do you consider that the community has a “shop local” culture?
Topic Domain 3: Views on Change
Leado Question • What changes are you considering for your business?
Possible
Follow-up Question
• What factors would speed or slow change in your business?
Figure 1. Example individual interview protocol for small business owners
Example Interview Protocol
The interview protocol in Figure 1 is targeted to a small business
owner. These questions focus on three major domains: challenges
of the small business owner, views on the community, and views on
change. Notice a leado question reects each of the major domains in
the interview. Follow-up questions are listed, but these would be used
only if the interviewee did not elaborate or did not mention them from
their answer to the leado question.
19
Worksheet: Preparing Questions for Interviews
Make your leado question general in nature. It should be the most important question. Follow-up questions are
used to gather additional information or to gather specics.
Topic Domain 1:
Leado Question
Possible Follow-up
Topic Domain 2:
Leado Question
Possible Follow-up
Topic Domain 3:
Leado Question
Possible Follow-up
20
Group Methods
Advisory Committees
One of the most eective ways to assess needs and plan programs to
meet those needs is to work with an advisory group (Barnett, Johnson,
& Verma, 1999; University of Wisconsin Extension, 2003). Eective
advisory groups represent the diversity of your county including
members from dierent geographic, political, racial, ethnic and
socioeconomic groups. The importance of involving nontraditional or
underserved clientele cannot be underestimated. Also, advisory groups
usually have representation from community coalitions, government
agencies, schools, etc. Members do not serve forever; there must be a
term of service and a rotation plan. This plan will contribute to a group
that reects the diversity of the audiences served, and it will contribute
to new ideas and energy.
Essential actions for involving advisory committees in needs
assessments include:
1. Identify members to reect diversity.
2. Establish term of service (for example, three-year terms) and
rotation of members.
3. Invite members to serve on the committee either face-to-face
or by telephone.
4. Remind members about the rst meeting by a letter or
personal email.
5. Create an atmosphere where members feel free to discuss their
community and concerns and where everyone’s input is valued.
6. Inform members about program accomplishments.
(Cummings & Franck, 2014; Donaldson, 2008; University of
Wisconsin Extension, 2003)
Several methods are eective for involving and engaging advisory
committees in the needs assessment process. These include the
Delphi Technique, nominal group processing and environmental
scans, which are explained in later sections of this publication. A good
way to involve the group is to share data and information that you
have already collected as a way to start the conversation, but focus
on listening to their ideas and concerns. Example personal letters to
committee members are shown in Figures 2 and 3.
People will share their needs
and goals if we ask.
21
Figure 3. Sample advisory committee meeting announcement
Date
Name
Address
Town, TN ZIP
Dear Name,
It was a pleasure to speak with you today. Thank you for agreeing to serve as a member of the [Insert
Name of County] 4-H Advisory Committee. This group:
reviews the current 4-H program in our county,
identies under-served audiences,
makes suggestions for improvements, and
oers advice for how Extension can serve the needs of today’s youth.
The Advisory Committee is made up of about 10-12 individuals: 4-H parents, teenagers, donors, educators,
and others who are interested in youth development. The group meets two times a year. The rst meeting
will be held on [Insert Date] in the [Insert Location]. We will meet from [Insert Time] to [Insert Time]
pm. We hope that you can accept this opportunity to determine the direction of the 4-H program in our
county.
If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at [Insert Phone or Email]. I look forward to
working with you! Thank you!
Sincerely,
Name
Extension Agent
Figure 2. Sample advisory committee invitation
Date
Name
Address
Town, TN ZIP
Dear Name,
The next meeting of the [Insert Name of County] County 4-H Advisory Committee will be
[Insert Date] at the Extension Oce. We will begin at [Insert Time] pm and should nish at [Inset Time]
pm.
We appreciate your willingness to serve. Advisory groups help Extension and community leaders to focus
attention on problems that can be solved through education and involvement. Individuals on advisory
groups learn about educational programs and how they can help people access those programs. If for any
reason you do not wish to serve on the advisory committee, please let us know.
We look forward to seeing you. Please let us know if you are unable to attend, and please feel free to use
our voice mail system after hours. Our phone number is [Insert Phone]. If you have a question or concern
about Extension programs, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you!
Yours truly,
Name
Extension Agent
22
Stakeholder Groups
It is not always necessary to invite an entire county or town population
to participate in a needs assessment. If you are focusing on improving
the visual appeal of neighborhoods, consider assessing and starting
with just one neighborhood. Invite people from the neighborhood to
participate in the needs assessment. As the people who own property
and live in the neighborhood, the residents are the key stakeholders.
In fact, involving too many people from outside the neighborhood too
early in the process might create distrust and a lack of engagement on
the part of residents.
It is often advantageous to conduct needs assessments with
stakeholder groups. For example, in focus groups or group interviews,
people enjoy talking to others with similar interests and pursuits.
Existing Extension mailing lists are a great place to start to identify
stakeholders. If you are assessing the needs of orchard growers, it is
a good idea to ask those stakeholders to name others who might be
contacted to answer questions. That allows you to check your mailing
list for accuracy and potentially involve new clients.
Focus Groups
The following discussion on focus groups is adapted from:
Donaldson, J. L., Hastings, S., & Bower, L. K. (2013).
Advancing Tennessee: Focus group interviews facilitation
guide for FCS programs. Available from Author.
Focus Groups Overview
Focus groups are planned discussions to capture perceptions
from a select group of people. Focus groups have multiple uses
including needs assessment, program development, evaluation and
marketing (Krueger & Casey, 2009; Martens, 2010). Focus groups
are useful when you want to understand experiences, viewpoints
and/or impressions. Focus groups can provide depth and breadth of
information while helping to build relationships with clients (Martens,
2010). The ideal size of a focus group is seven to 10 people (Kreuger,
1988; Krueger & Casey, 2009; Smithson, 2008). The focus group
moderator is critically important because the group discussion is many
times reective of his/her skills and values.
Why Focus Groups?
Focus groups have many characteristics that make them well-suited
for Extension work including the needs assessment process. First,
focus groups tend to lend themselves to open-ended questions. These
questions are helpful for thinking about complex problems and
programs. The information gained from focus groups can help address
problems at the program design stage. Focus groups are useful when:
• You need visual aids.
• You ask sensitive questions.
• You need a group to develop ideas.
• Interaction and “building on ideas” will provide useful information.
• One person shares and it triggers a memory for someone else.
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• Time to collect information is limited.
• People get along.
Examples of Successful Focus Group Interviews
• How Farmers Learn — Six focus groups were conducted
to understand how today’s farmers prefer to learn. The
participants represented beef/forages, organic fruits/
vegetables, tobacco, row crops, women in agriculture and
clients of the Center for Protable Agriculture. The results
continue to inform teaching methods for Extension programs
reaching farmers.
• State Extension Strategic Plan — Four focus groups were
conducted by members of the State Extension Strategic
Planning Leadership Team. The participants were 24 leaders
from state agencies or statewide organizations. The groups
were helpful in improving the draft strategic plan and
conrmed information gathered from other sources.
• Local Advisory Groups — Annually, Tennessee Extension
personnel conduct more than 400 advisory committee
meetings throughout the state. Many of the successful eorts
used focus group interview techniques and/or some of the
other group methods discussed in this publication.
Participant Selection
• Consider seven to 10 people for a single session. Consider
those who would be comfortable with one another, but do
not necessarily know one another. Consider diversity in
gender, race/ethnicity, residence and other areas to oer rich
perspectives.
• Plan two to three focus group sessions with dierent people.
This provides you with a greater cross-section of your clients
and allows you to see patterns across the groups.
• Consider selecting participants who have a similar association
to the topic being discussed. As an illustration, if you are
assessing infant and child nutrition, select participants who are
all parents. Another group might be all elected ocials.
Focus Group Protocol/Discussion Guide
A protocol or discussion guide provides the structure for guiding
your focus groups. This structure acts as a checklist to ensure that
all the topics are covered. The main parts of the protocol include the
introduction, the opening questions, the key questions, the summary
and the closing.
The introduction sets the tone for the focus group. The moderator
introduces themselves and the note takers, provides a brief overview
of the purpose, discusses the importance of condentiality, and
establishes some ground rules. It is important that you memorize the
introduction. A sample introduction is provided in Figure 4.
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Open-ended questions are best... “Where does your child do
homework?” rather than “Does your child do homework in
your car on the way to school?”
• “What do you like best about…?” and “Think back…” questions
usually work well.
• Question order needs to be logical; ordering questions from
general to specic works well.
• Many focus groups use fewer than 10 questions.
• Avoid “Why” questions — Instead of “Why did you attend the
Grain Conference?” ask, “What prompted you to attend the
Grain Conference?”
Focus Group Best Practices
Invite people personally.
• Secure comfortable location.
• Provide pens/pencils/paper.
• Provide refreshments.
• Introductions: Hello everyone. Thanks so much for being here. My name is Joseph
Donaldson and I will serve as facilitator. Because we want to make sure that we capture all of
your ideas, Karen Franck is here to take notes.
• Purpose of the Group: Our purpose is to conduct focus group discussions about the needs
in your county that can be addressed by Extension programs.
• Condentiality: Everything that you say is condential. We ask that you do not share what
others have discussed with people outside of this group.
• Length of the focus group: We will conclude in approximately two hours, and we will
take a break after the rst hour.
• Ground Rules:
o First, there are no right or wrong answers. We are interested in your opinions and
perspectives on the needs of your community.
o Second, you do not have to agree with everyone else in this room if that is not how
you really feel. We expect people will have dierent views on these questions.
o Third, we want you to feel comfortable saying good things as well as critical things.
We are not here to promote a particular way of thinking. We just want to understand
your viewpoints.
o Fourth, we ask that you talk one at a time.
• Check for Questions: Does anyone have any questions before we get started?
Figure 4. Focus group introduction example
Quality Questions
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• Take a break after one hour.
• Have one or more people serving as recorders.
• Provide name tags/table tents.
Room Setup
A recommended room setup for a focus group interview is shown
in Figure 5. This is an actual seating chart used for focus groups
in Jackson County, Tennessee. Notice that the focus group had 10
participants, two note takers and one moderator. The room setup
includes four tables (each table being 6 feet long), 13 chairs, and two
battery-powered recorders on the tabletop.
Figure 5. Recommended room setup for a focus group interview
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Moderator Skills
The rst skill is the ability to “initiate and maintain a conversation
with a stranger” (Frey & Oishi, 1995). A good moderator uses the
following skills:
• Be mentally prepared.
• Be alert, friendly and free from distractions.
• Listen.
• Be completely familiar with questions.
Discourage any controlling talkers.
• Look at other participants.
• Look down while they are talking.
• Cross your hands.
• Change your posture.
• Shue your notes.
• More direct techniques — “Let’s take the next four minutes to
silently write ideas for this question. [After four minutes] Now
I would like each person to share one idea at a time.”
• Control your reactions.
• Remain neutral; don’t evaluate or judge in any capacity.
• Keep your opinion to yourself.
• Never say “that’s good” or “excellent.”
• Nod your head to encourage dialogue but don’t show
agreement with an idea.
• Think about what you are communicating verbally and
nonverbally.
• Keep listening.
• Do not defend or justify.
• If a participant seems especially emotional (angry, euphoric,
etc.), ask the person to describe how they feel.
• Validate by saying, “I understand why you would feel that way.
Tell me more.”
• Validate by saying, “We’re trying to get as much information as
possible, so I appreciate you. Would anyone else like to share?”
• Oer appropriate questions.
• Use pauses and probes.
• Ask your question then pause.
• Don’t talk to ll the silence — allow people to think about the
question.
• After someone stops speaking and no one else responds, wait
ve seconds, then call on someone else to comment.
• Probes:
o “Would you explain further?”
o “Tell me more.”
o “Would you provide an example?”
o “I don’t understand. Tell me more.”
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o Repeat the question.
o Repeat the reply.
Be exible and consistent.
• Moderators balance exibility in questioning with consistency
between and among dierent focus groups.
• If everyone has spoken, ask if there’s anything else, then move
on to the next question.
• Participants should be having a conversation with each other;
you are listening to that conversation.
Analyze your data
One disadvantage of focus groups is that the data can be challenging
to analyze as compared to questionnaires (Martens, 2010). In general
terms, you can analyze your data by doing these two tasks:
• Identify common responses within each focus group; these are
referred to as common themes.
• Compare and contrast themes across the dierent focus groups.
• More information about analyzing focus group data is found in the
Utilization section of this publication.
Surveys
Surveys of the General Population
In survey research, a census of the population is challenging.
The United States Census Bureau provides a survey of the entire
population with important information about communities, including
gender, age, race and ethnicity and other demographic data. Access
the United States Census data at census.gov.
Even when you have access to an entire population, it might not be
practical to conduct a census because the number is far too many to
contact or include. For example, in one county in Tennessee there are
more than 6,000 4-H youth members. For this county, a sample of
these 4-H youth is more practical than a census. Using random and/
or stratied sampling ensures that the sample reects all of the varied
aspects (socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, etc.) of the population.
Random Sampling
In random sampling, every member of the population has an equal
opportunity of being selected for the sample. A random sample is
obtained by placing individual names on individual pieces of paper,
and then names are drawn at random (UC Davis, 2014). Another
helpful technique would be to place the names in a spreadsheet, so
that every name is on a dierent row. Then, use free online software
such as a random number generator from Random.org (2014) to
obtain a sample.
How many people should be in your sample for valid results? This
important question is critical because the sample needs to be large
enough to represent the various diversities of the population. If the
sample size is too low, you have not represented the population. If
the sample size is too high, you may be using valuable resources that
are not necessary for the same results with a more accurate sample
number.
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Krejcie and Morgan (1970) provided the following calculations based
on a formula provided by the National Education Association (see
Figure 1). Based on these calculations, for the population of 6,000 4-H
members, a random sample of 361 should be drawn.
When conducting a survey, it is also important to factor in the
response rate. The average return rate of mailed surveys is 55.6
percent (Baruch, 1999), and the average completion rate of emailed
surveys is 39.6 percent (Cook, Heath, & Thompson, 2000).
Therefore, it is important to send out enough surveys to achieve the
recommended sample size for accuracy. In the example above, for the
population of 6,000 4-H members, to achieve a random sample of 361
youth, approximately 580 youth would need to be emailed. See table 2.
Table 2. Population and Sample Size
Population Size Sample Size Surveys that need
to be emailed*
24 or less Everyone All
25 24 All
50 44 All
100 80 All
200 132 All
300 169 All
400 196 320
500 217 350
600 234 375
700 248 400
800 260 420
900 269 430
1,000 278 445
2,000 322 515
3,000 341 550
4,000 351 565
5,000 357 575
6,000 361 580
7,000 364 585
8,000 367 590
9,000 368 590
10,000 370 600
20,000 377 605
30,000 379 610
40,000 380 610
50,000 381 610
75,000 382 615
100,000 384 615
*Estimates rounded to nearest 10
th
based on average response rate of 39.6
percent for emailed surveys.
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Stratied Sampling
In stratied sampling, the population is grouped into the most
important characteristic before the sample is drawn (UC Davis, 2014).
To continue the example of the county 4-H program with a population
of 6,000, you might be interested in any dierences in how youth of
dierent races or ethnicities perceive 4-H experiences. If race and
ethnicity are an important part of the study, the population would
need to be stratied, or grouped, by race rst. The population is then
randomly sampled within the groups (Table 3).
Table 3. Example of Stratied Sampling
Population by Race/
Ethnicity (N = 6,000)
Sample by Race/Ethnicity
(n = 361)
30% White/Not of Hispanic
Origin
109 White/Not of Hispanic
Origin
61% Black/Not of Hispanic
Origin
220 Black/Not of Hispanic
Origin
5% Hispanic 18 Hispanic
2% American Indian/Alaskan
Native
7 American Indian/Alaskan
Native
2% Asian or Pacic Islander 7 Asian or Pacic Islander
The 361 sample size reects the racial and ethnic makeup of the
entire population. Again, this is an example in which the key
characteristic being studied was perception of 4-H projects by
race/ethnicity.
Snowball Sampling
There might be occasions when it is important to include additional
perspectives from a targeted group. For example, you might want to
include individuals who are not presently vegetable producers but may
want to become vegetable producers. One approach would be to ask
farmers and agribusiness owners if they know anyone who might be
interested and, if so, who they recommend. This is a sampling method
known as the “snowball sample,” because you add potential contacts as
you go, much like adding snow to a snowball that grows exponentially.
A snowball sample is an example of a sample that is not necessarily
representative of the population. It is a purposive sample that serves
a specic need — in this case, targeting a specic audience (UC Davis,
2014).
Surveys of Targeted Audiences
Once Extension personnel have identied a target audience for
educational programming, determine if there are existing mailing lists
in the county Extension oce. Throughout Tennessee’s 95 county
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Extension oces, mailing lists for specic audiences are maintained.
Some of the sample lists available across the state include commercial
vegetable producers, small fruit and nut producers, Tennessee
Nutrition and Consumer Education Program volunteers, 4-H
volunteers, and many, many more.
A very important caveat is that sometimes existing clients have too
much inuence over a needs assessment, and the results produce
neither new programming eorts nor new audiences served. This is
another reason for using multiple methods when conducting a needs
assessment.
Survey Characteristics
Surveys can be a great way to get information from diverse groups of
people. Surveys can be written, verbal or online, but for surveys to be
successful it is important that they have certain characteristics:
1. Make questions easy to understand and easy to answer — word
questions so that there is no wrong answer.
2. Keep it short — both the questions and the survey itself. For
questions, try for fewer than 20 words. For surveys, try for 10
to 15 questions.
3. Don’t ask people to rank a long list of options. About four ranks
is valid because people’s preferences uctuate and it can be
dicult to make meaningful distinctions between
large-ranked groups.
4. Make sure all questions relate to what you are interested in
learning. When putting together a survey, look at each question
and make sure that it needs to be included.
5. Make sure the survey goes to the right person — don’t ask
someone for information that they would not know.
6. Make sure that you can get an adequate number of people to
complete the survey.
7. Be careful about bias — biased questions include, “Do you
agree that obesity is a serious issue in our county?” versus
“Rate the seriousness of obesity in our county.”
8. Place the most important question rst, or at least a question
closely tied to the title of the survey. Demographic questions
are typically asked last.
9. Keep the visual design simple. Have a “clean” layout. The
top should have a logo and title. The bottom right should
have navigation (Gouldthorpe & Israel, 2015). Do not include
any extra content (lines, logos, URLs). It can distract the
respondent and reduce response rates. It is okay to use a
background color with white answer spaces.
10. Focus on what you are trying to accomplish and any benets of
the study. For example, it would be better to state instructions
as, “From time to time we evaluate certain programs,” instead
of stating, “I really need lots of respondents to have any hope of
obtaining an ‘Exemplary’ performance appraisal rating.”
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Paper Surveys
Paper surveys can be used with people to whom you have access, such
as during a meeting or after a program. Just make sure to allow enough
time to compile the surveys so that you can use the information.
For paper surveys, 12 pages printed front and back in booklet form is
the recommended limit, but collect this much information only if it is
necessary to meet the needs of your assessment.
Online Surveys
Qualtrics can be an easy way to collect information from people
who are willing to take an online survey. Qualtrics provides a report
and gives you up-to-date information about how many people have
completed the survey.
Tips for a successful online survey:
1. Send out the link at a time when people are more willing to
complete a survey — avoid sending out the survey at 8 a.m. on a
Monday or a Friday, or at lunch time.
2. Send out at least one reminder — most people take surveys
right after they receive them, so it’s important to send out
reminders to increase response rates. Average respondents
complete surveys in about four days (Shinn, Baker, & Briers,
2007). Follow up by focusing on the person, such as, “We
realize this is a busy time of year, and we understand how
valuable your time is. We are hoping you could give about ve
minutes to complete a short survey…”
3. Use multiple screens when laying out your survey. This will
prevent respondents from scrolling excessively.
Increasing Response Rates
Survey response rates have been decreasing for both paper and online
surveys for at least the past 15 years in Europe and the United States.
While numerous researchers have reported a decline in survey
response rates, one study by Nulty (2008) is particularly striking. Nulty
conducted a meta-analysis of eight dierent studies that used both
paper and online surveys. All of the studies were surveys of Australian
college students. Nulty showed that online surveys had response
rates that lagged behind paper surveys in six out of seven surveys
administered to random samples of participants.
Tips to increase response rates for an online survey:
1. Send out the link at an optimal time if at all possible (Tuesday-
Thursday between 10 and 11 a.m. or between 2 and 4 p.m.).
2. Send out at least one reminder to nonrespondents about one
week after the initial email. Personalize the reminders as much
as possible.
Tips to increase response rates for mailed surveys:
1. Personalize the letter as much as possible.
2. Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
“With the increased expectation
of Extension program
accountability, one of the most
frequently used evaluation
methodologies, survey research,
is becoming less useful due to
declining response rates.”
(Shinn, Baker, & Briers, 2007)
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3. Send out follow-up letters to nonrespondents about one week
apart.
An initial contact letter is shown in Figure 6. See Figures 7, 8 and 9 for
follow-up letters.
•
Dear Master Gardener,
From time to time we seek the opinions of a number of Tennesseans, including statewide Extension
personnel, decision-makers, clientele and other stakeholders, to improve Extension programs. Today, we
are asking you to help us assess the Master Gardener program. Our goal is to use the information to plan
eective Master Gardener programs in the future.
You were one of a sample of Tennessee Extension Master Gardeners who was randomly selected for
this survey. The responses we receive to this survey from you and other citizens will assist us in setting
priorities for the Master Gardener program.
This will be a condential survey. It will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. Your responses
will be grouped with those of other citizens across the state. Your response is very important. Direct any
questions about this survey to:
[Insert Name of Extension Professional]
[Insert Title]
[Insert Phone]
[Insert Email]
[Insert Name of Extension Professional]
[Insert Title]
[Insert Phone]
[Insert Email]
Thank you!
[Insert Name of Extension Professional]
[Insert Name of Extension Professional]
Figure 6. Example of an initial contact letter
Thank you for your participation. Please click the link below to take our survey:
[Insert Survey Link]
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Dear Master Gardener,
Last week we sent you an email asking you to complete a survey about eective Master Gardener
programs in the future. Thank you to everyone who has completed the survey so far!
If you have not completed the survey, we hope that you will do so as soon as possible. Because
of the small number of people being asked to participate in this survey, it is important that each
person complete the survey. It will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. Your responses are
condential and will be grouped with those of other citizens across the state. Please click this link to
take our survey: [Insert Survey Link]
Direct any questions about this survey to:
Figure 7. Example of a one-week follow-up letter
Dear Master Gardener,
We realize that this is a busy time of year for you, and we know how valuable your time is. We are
asking for 20 minutes of your time to share your opinions about Master Gardener programs in the
future.
We hope that you will complete the survey as soon as possible. Because of the small number of people
being asked to participate in this survey, it is important that each person complete the survey. It will
take approximately 20 minutes to complete. Your responses are condential and will be grouped with
those of other citizens across the state. Please click this link to take our survey: [Insert Survey Link]
Direct any questions about this survey to:
Your response is important because it will help us assess the program and make future plans that
represent the perspectives of Master Gardeners.
[Insert Name of Extension Professional]
[Insert Title]
[Insert Phone]
[Insert Email]
[Insert Name of Extension Professional]
[Insert Title]
[Insert Phone]
[Insert Email]
Thank you for your participation!
Sincerely,
[Insert Name of Extension Professional]
[Insert Name of Extension Professional]
[Insert Name of Extension Professional]
[Insert Title]
[Insert Phone]
[Insert Email]
[Insert Name of Extension Professional]
[Insert Title]
[Insert Phone]
[Insert Email]
Thank you for your participation!
Sincerely,
[Insert Name of Extension Professional]
[Insert Name of Extension Professional]
Figure 8. Example of a three-week follow-up letter
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Dear Master Gardener,
Several weeks ago, we sent you an email message asking you to complete a short survey regarding your
opinions about future Master Gardener programs. As of today, we have not received your completed
survey.
We have received many responses from across the state, and these opinions will be valuable to us in
planning future Master Gardener programs. We are contacting you today because your response helps
us to get an accurate, representative picture of statewide opinions. This is the “last call” to receive
responses to the survey.
We hope that you will complete the survey as soon as possible; it will take about 20 minutes. Your
responses are condential and will be grouped with those of other citizens across the state. Please click
this link to take our survey: [Insert Survey Link]
Direct any questions about this survey to:
Thank you for your help!
Figure 9. Example of a nal follow-up letter
[Insert Name of Extension Professional]
[Insert Title]
[Insert Phone]
[Insert Email]
[Insert Name of Extension Professional]
[Insert Title]
[Insert Phone]
[Insert Email]
Thank you for your participation!
Sincerely,
[Insert Name of Extension Professional]
[Insert Name of Extension Professional]
Open Listening Sessions
Open listening sessions is a needs assessment method similar to a
focus group. Key dierences are that open listening sessions can
be small or large, and the sessions are usually open to everyone to
attend. Open listening sessions can be great ways for multiple public
agencies to collect information at one time and discuss the intricacies
of complex issues. This approach may help you build strong working
relationships with other agencies and ocials.
People can be invited to attend or invitations can be extended to the
community through advertisements. People who are interested in
attending are usually asked to bring a friend, a family member or
someone they know who is interested in the topic.
In general, to start the meeting, you or a panel of experts share
information about the topic of interest. Then attendees are invited
to respond, share their concerns and issues, and pose questions
about the issue. Large groups can be separated into smaller groups to
facilitate discussion. The key is to ensure that important information
is captured. It is important that you have someone who can help take
notes about what is discussed. Review the notes to look for trends.
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Here are some suggestions for an eective listening session:
1. Secure a location for the listening session. Think about the
potential size of the group that might attend. Consider the
meeting room space, acoustics and the number of people
who will attend. Microphones might be needed for the panel
and the audience. Some locations will require more time and
energy to prepare.
2. Send out invitations or advertise the listening session to the
community.
3. Plan the structure. Will you present the information or will
there be a panel of experts? Will you need volunteers to help
facilitate smaller discussions?
4. Make sure everyone knows the agenda for the meeting. The
agenda is critical, as people need to know that their comments
are welcome at a scheduled time. Panel members need to be
aware of their time limits for their comments to ensure time for
audience comments.
5. Let all panelists know in advance who you are inviting to serve
on the panel. If the panelists do not know each other, make
introductions and provide a short meet-and-greet session
before the meeting starts.
6. Provide water for the panelists.
7. Conduct the listening session and collect information.
8. Compile the results, looking for trends.
9. Communicate the results with the community.
Delphi Technique
The Delphi Technique is a method for soliciting ideas from a
nominated group of experts using a series of questionnaires (Hsu &
Sandford, 2007; Ludwig, 1997). This technique is credited to Norman
Dalkey and Olaf Helmer of the Rand Corporation and was pioneered
by the United States Department of Defense for making predictions
about large-scale issues including war and population changes (Dalkey
& Helmer, 1963; Lindeman, 1981). Over the next 50 years, numerous
public service agencies and organizations including Cooperative
Extension used the Delphi Technique for needs assessments, program
planning and evaluation purposes (Gamon, 1991; Ludwig, 1997).
The Delphi Technique allows for collecting information from a diverse
group of participants (Mayeld, Wingenbach, & Chalmers, 2005).
Furthermore, the process allows dierent groups to identify their own
key needs and issues without inuence from other groups (Lorenzo,
Blanche, & Henson, 2003).
A strength of the Delphi Technique is that a diverse group can be
included, but privacy can be maintained. Another strength is that the
Delphi participants identify and prioritize the needs and issues so that
the process and outcomes are participant-driven and not controlled by
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you (Gross, 1981). Furthermore, having multiple rounds of questions
allows participants to consider and potentially revise or rene their
original ideas based on the feedback of other participants. This process
allows a more focused and thoughtful response than the one-shot
answers of a focus group or survey. Another strength is that everyone
is anonymous, so one person cannot dominate the group — an issue
that can happen in focus groups or open listening sessions.
Delphis are conducted using the following steps. These steps take
place over several weeks or even several months, and participants
work individually on this process.
Step 1. Ask for nominations for experts to participate on
the panel. Nominations should be solicited from key
stakeholders or others who are knowledgeable in the area
of interest. For example, in a study of 4-H professionals
related to healthy living, state 4-H leaders were contacted
by email and asked to nominate county 4-H professionals
who had worked with this project.
Step 2. Invite nominees to participate.
Step 3. Round One — Traditionally, participants are asked
to answer an open-ended question (Hsu & Sandford,
2007) that is sent to panelists on the topic of interest.
For example, the question could be “What is the greatest
issue facing X in your county?” X could be farmers,
agricultural producers, families, children, students,
teachers, health care practitioners, etc.
Step 4. Round Two — The Round Two survey is developed based
on Round One responses. Participants are asked to rank
order the responses to the rst question, and sometimes
they are asked to justify their rankings.
Step 5. Round Three — The Round Three survey is developed
from Round Two responses. Participants are provided
a summary of ratings for Round Two and then asked to
revise their rankings based on the group scores and to
clarify their reasons.
Step 6. Round Four — The Round Four survey is a nal summary
of rankings. Participants are asked to review and revise
these rankings if needed.
Environmental Scanning
Environmental scanning has been dened as a way of collecting
information to examine emerging trends and provide early warnings
of external changes that can impact an organization or community
(Brown & Weiner, 1985; Coates, 1985; Morrison, 1992). The process
involves several of the methods discussed previously; the dierence is
that this technique focuses more on future and emerging trends that
can impact your county both in positive and negative ways (Bukowski
& Michael, 2014).
Step 1.
Step 2.
Step 3.
Step 4.
Step 5.
Step 6.
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This technique is best performed by a team using the steps outlined
here:
1. Review existing data.
2. List topics that are important based on the document review.
3. Involve advisory committee and other stakeholder groups to
provide information and feedback about the identied topics —
what do they see as important or critical?
4. Use surveys and other methods to collect information across
the county from diverse groups about the identied topics.
5. List topics that emerged as important from numbers 3 and 4.
6. Prioritize topics — focus on what Extension can address
(adapted from Guion, 2010).
Brainstorming
Brainstorming provides a way for groups to generate ideas socially.
If the need is to generate more solutions to a problem, then
brainstorming is necessary. While you don’t have to use the entire
meeting time to brainstorm, make sure you have allowed adequate
time for the group to think about solutions and share solutions.
Suggestions for conducting a brainstorming session include:
1. Present the ground rules for brainstorming.
a. All ideas are valuable.
b. Share as many ideas as possible.
c. Brainstorming is not a time to judge or evaluate any
issues.
2. Present a specic problem or question for the group to address.
3. Request that each individual spend time thinking silently about
the issue. This is an essential step of brainstorming because
it deters the group from getting bogged down on any one idea
(Adams, 2013; Berkun, 2004). Provide paper and pens for
participants to make notes.
4. Ask for ideas to be shared either at random or round-robin
fashion by going around the room and asking each person to
share one idea at a time. You can add some interest by asking
everyone to share the last idea they wrote down or the rst idea
they wrote down.
5. Capture every idea — one of the most important tasks for
a facilitator of a brainstorming session. Think of ways for
everyone to see all ideas being shared. Using newsprint, ip
chart paper, or a computer and projector can help everyone see
the ideas.
6. Use one or more facilitation tools to help the group continue to
generate ideas.
•
•
•
Step 1.
Step 2.
Step 3.
Step 6.
Step 4.
Step 1.
Step 2.
Step 3.
Step 5.
Step 6.
Step 4.
Step 5.
38
a. Add a roadblock to help the group think about the issue
in a dierent way, as in, “If you only had $5,000, how
would you invest it” (Berkun, 2004).
b. Remove roadblocks by explaining to the group that you
want their most creative thinking not to be constrained
by time, money, other resources, etc. (Berkun, 2004).
After the brainstorming session, use these approaches to focus the
group on evaluation:
• Ask: “Which of these ideas do you like best?”
• Ask: “Which idea is the easiest to accomplish and why?”
• You could also give every participant one or more votes and
allow them to cast their votes for their favorite ideas.
Future Wheels
Future wheels focus on some event, trend or proposed change. This
method was developed in the early 1970s by Jerome Glenn who
originally suggested that future wheels were useful in documenting
possible consequences, but future wheels can be used more broadly for
general needs assessment (Glenn, n.d.). They can be a great way for
groups to focus on a single change or event, brainstorm consequences
and relationships, and promote group dialogue.
Five steps have been suggested:
1. Identify the change.
2. Identify the rst, or most immediate, consequences that you
expect to occur.
3. Identify the second, or next, consequences that you expect to
occur.
4. Discuss implications.
5. Identify actions or specic ways to manage the consequences
(Mind Tools, 2014).
Usually it is best to have just one person serve as both facilitator
and recorder, but two people may be used. It is imperative that the
recorder not interpret or make their own decisions about what the
group contributes. The future wheel should be a brainstorming
exercise.
Notice that in Figure 10 a future wheel has been created for a
proposed employee wellness program. It started with a single wheel,
the center wheel representing the proposed program. The group rst
brainstormed four major components: curriculum, organization,
outcomes and incentives. Notice that additional brainstorming was
captured, and consequences were also noted. Figure 11 presents a
future wheel for the trend of increased demand for local food.
•
•
Step 1.
Step 2.
Step 3.
Step 4.
Step 5.
39
C
u
r
r
i
c
u
l
u
m
O
r
g
a
n
i
z
a
t
i
o
n
I
n
c
e
n
t
i
v
e
s
O
u
t
c
o
m
e
s
Proposed
Employee
Wellness
Program
Stress
Management
Nutrition
Mental Health
Physical
Activity
Managing
Work Schedules
and Expectations
Increased
Job Satisfaction
Lots of
Choices
Group
Events/
Activities
Volunteering
Comradery
Time
Gym
Discount
Feeling
Healthy
Reduced
Stress
Balanced
Life
Happiness
Reduction in
Overweight
and Obesity
Increased
Productivity
Figure 10. Example of a future wheel for a proposed employee wellness program
40
Figure 11. Example of a future wheel for brainstorming how to increase the demand for local food
Increasing
Demand for
LOCAL
FOOD
Need for
Consumer Education
Get Local
Food Sold
in Local Stores
and Restaurants
Improve
Farmer’s Markets
Need for Producer
Education
Marketing
Production
Value-Added
Fresh Fruit
Fresh
Vegetables
Need for
More Local
Producers
Fresh Meat
41
Nominal Group Technique
Nominal group technique (NGT) is a form of structured interactions
(Averch, 2004). It can work well for a needs assessment in the context
of any group meeting, including community forums and advisory
committee meetings.
Sample (1984) outlined steps to eective NGT as follows:
1. NGT Setup — NGT works best in groups of ve to seven people.
Ideally, these people would be seated around a table or ip
chart/screen where their ideas are shown.
2. NGT Question — Ask an open-ended question such as “What are
some ways we could encourage consumers to buy local food?”
3. Phase One — Phase One is also known as the silent phase.
Explain that the rst phase is individual brainstorming. Ask
everyone to think about their ideas and encourage them to
write them down silently. Let the groups know how long they
will work. Usually one to two minutes is sucient.
4. Phase Two — In Phase Two, in round-robin fashion have each
person share one idea. As the person shares their idea, capture
it electronically or on ip chart paper. The key is to make sure
everyone can view the ideas easily. Make sure to emphasize
before Phase Two begins that no judgment is allowed.
However, it is a good idea to allow people to ask questions to
clarify or understand the ideas. Sometimes this is done after all
of the ideas are listed.
5. Phase Three — In Phase Three ask each person to evaluate the
ideas silently and vote individually for the best ones. If using
ip chart paper, this can be done by using dots. Each person
receives three dots (or votes) to place beside the ideas that they
like the best.
6. Phase Four — Show the group votes and lead a discussion on
the major ideas presented.
For a single group meeting or event, multiple rounds could be used
with a dierent question in each round. To continue the local food
example, additional rounds might explore:
• “What would encourage more farmers to produce fruits and
vegetables?”
• “What are the key ways to reach consumers about local food?”
• “What are the major barriers to purchasing local food?”
Step 2.
Step 3.
Step 1.
Step 4.
Step 5.
Step 6.
42
Concept Mapping
Concept mapping is a nominal group technique that allows individuals
and groups to study concepts. It can be advantageous over the
traditional nominal group technique because it allows participants
to see relationships and patterns. In Extension, this method has
been used successfully for program planning (Duttweiler, 1991) and
evaluation (Wheeler & Szymanski, 2005).
Donaldson (2010) described several commercial software products
and a free alternative called Freemind. The Freemind software
includes graphics to enter and arrange relationships between and
among overarching ideas and related concepts. In the software, these
ideas and concepts are referred to as “parent” and “child” concepts,
respectively.
Every method described in this guidebook has pros and cons. It is
important to include three or more methods when planning your
needs assessment. Incorporating multiple methods is important for
the following reasons:
• Allows more people to participate in the process.
• Provides a richer context for identifying the needs and
strengths in the community.
• Controls for some of the drawbacks of each individual method.
Table 4 highlights the pros and cons of the top needs assessment
methods.
Methods Pros Cons Best used
when
Document
Review
• Provides
detailed
information
from a large
sample size
• Provides
information
from multiple
years so
trends can be
examined
• Does not
address
details about
information
(why
something is
occurring)
• Small
numbers/
rare
occurrences
might not be
captured
This should be
part of every
needs
assessment.
Comparing Needs
Assessment Methods
Table 4. Pros and Cons of the Top Needs Assessment Methods
43
Methods Pros Cons Best used
when
Key Informant
Interviews
• Provides
rsthand
knowledge of a
situation
• Provides
information
about why
something is
happening
• Knowledge
of situation
can be
limited to
their own
context
This should be
part of every
needs
assessment
if key
informants
have been
identied.
Personal
Interviews
• Provides
rsthand
knowledge of a
situation
• Provides
information
about why
something is
happening
• Knowledge
of situation
can be
limited to
their own
context
• Time-
intensive
• Group
methods
such as focus
groups are
not practical
• Additional
opinions are
needed to
clarify issues
Focus Groups • Can get detailed
information
about a topic
• Can discuss
both depth and
breadth of an
issue
• One
person can
dominate a
group
• People are
not always
willing
to share
sensitive
information
in a group
setting
• Rich data
are needed
• Enough
participants
(5 or more)
can be
recruited to
participate
44
Methods Pros Cons Best used
when
In-Person
Surveys
• High response
rates
• Easy to
distribute
• Dicult to
get complex
information
• Might not
answer
questions
about
sensitive
topics
• Not
capturing
viewpoints
from people
who are not
engaged with
Extension
programs or
services
• Limited time
to collect
data
Mailed Surveys • Can include a
large number of
people
• Easy to
distribute
• Dicult to
get complex
information
• Might not
answer
questions
about
sensitive
topics
• Must have
access to
addresses
• SASEs and
printing
costs can be
expensive
• Limited time
to collect
data
• Adequate
funds are
available
• Access to
mailing
addresses
45
Methods Pros Cons Best used
when
Online Surveys • Can include a
large number of
people
• Easy to
distribute
• Aordable
• Dicult to
get complex
information
• Might not
answer
questions
about
sensitive
topics
• Might not
complete
• Must have
access
to email
addresses
• Lower
response
rate
compared
to mailed
surveys
that include
SASEs
• Limited time
to collect
data
• Access
to email
addresses
• Do not
have funds
for mailed
surveys
Open
Listening
Sessions
• Can be small or
large
• Everyone from
the community
can attend
• Need
involvement
from
multiple
agencies
• Need
extensive
experience
facilitating
large groups
• Need
adequate
time to plan
and conduct
• Have
extensive
buy-in from
dierent
agencies
46
Methods Pros Cons Best used
when
Delphi • Can get detailed
information
from experts
• Time-
intensive
• Has to be
planned well
in advance of
when results
are needed
• Respondents
are needed
geographi-
cally
dispersed
• Expert
opinions are
needed
• Experts are
available and
willing to
participate
Environmental
Scan
• Combines
dierent
methods to
provide a
compre-
hensive
picture
• Time-
intensive
• Group
eort (more
than one
Extension
employee
needs to be
involved)
• Group is
committed
to the
process
Brainstorming,
Future Wheels,
Nominal Group
Technique,
Concept
Mapping
• Provides
multiple
perspectives
• Helps prioritize
issues
• Provides visual
cues
• Must be
done with
groups of
people
• One person
could
dominate
the group
• Enough
participants
can be
recruited
(5 or more
depending
on the
method)
47
There are some common mistakes that people can make when
conducting needs assessments, and it is important to be aware of these
issues from the beginning.
Disregarding issues — This is usually not intentional, but it is easy
to disregard issues that surface during needs assessments for several
reasons. First, you might not feel the issue is important. Second, the
issue might be controversial. Third, it could be an issue that you are
not familiar with.
Allowing undue inuence — Certain people or groups can be very
outspoken. It is important not to give these groups more inuence
about the needs assessment process. For example, it is important
to talk with a broad audience and not just focus on a few key
stakeholders. By talking to several people throughout the community,
you will get a more accurate reection of what is going on in your
county.
Focusing too narrowly or too broadly — A common problem is
focusing the needs assessment on only one topic — often an area
with which you have the most knowledge. However, it is important to
look at other issues when conducting the assessment — even issues
that might not be addressed by Extension. This will give you a better
understanding of factors that might unintentionally impact your
programs and your county. It is also important to not look too broadly.
For example, it is important to look at county-level statistics and not
just at statewide or national data. For counties with large populations,
it is helpful to look at specic communities. Countywide data can
sometimes “hide” issues that aect dierent communities.
Relying only on one data source — A needs assessment has to consist
of several methods. Only looking at census data does not give more
detailed information about what is going on in a community. All of
these methods have limited value if they are performed in isolation.
A good needs assessment starts with a plan including the dierent
methods that will be used.
Cautions and Caveats
When Performing Needs
Assessments
48
Needs assessment should be a multitiered approach — one source of
information is not going to provide a comprehensive understanding of
an issue or your county. When looking at data from dierent sources,
it is important to make sure you have dierent types of information
— both quantitative (hard numbers and percentages) and qualitative
(open-ended comments, focus group and other group discussion). For
each method, there is an appropriate way to interpret data.
Quantitative Data
For quantitative data, it is important to start with a description. If you
conducted a survey, answer the following questions:
1. How many people received the survey?
2. Was this a specic group of people (for example, TNCEP
coalition members, agriculture producers or teachers) or was
the survey sent to a sample from the community?
3. How many people responded?
4. Describe the respondents by gender, race/ethnicity, age,
location.
Now look at the actual ndings. Calculate the ndings for each
question either as a percentage or mean based upon the question.
Look for similarities and dierences. Think about your expectations.
Do the ndings agree with or contradict what you thought would
happen? Do the ndings agree with the information that you found
during the document review?
Qualitative Data
For qualitative data, again start with a description. Answer the
following questions:
1. How many people were invited to participate (specically for
the focus group or advisory committee meetings)?
2. How many people attended?
3. How many people actively participated in the process? (This
number would represent the amount of people who spoke or
contributed during the process, if known. Sometimes the group
is large but only a few participants talk.)
4. If applicable, describe the respondents by gender, race/
ethnicity, age, location.
Now look at the actual ndings. Sort and compile data into response
categories and subcategories. Look for trends and patterns in the data.
Interpreting the Results
of the Needs Assessment
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Utilization
49
Coding is one technique to organize the data. Start out with codes that
you would expect to nd based on the participants. For example, if you
conducted a focus group with parents of young children, “day care”
could be one code that you would expect to nd. You will create other
codes as you read through the data. Look for ideas and words that are
mentioned frequently. Using the example of young parents, you might
nd that “money” or “nances” come up frequently, or concerns about
“picky eaters” or “potty-training.” As you examine the statements
associated with dierent codes, look at the context. Did dierent
people mention these ideas? How many times did participants include
specic words? Individual responses often provoke dierent ideas, but
it is important to look for issues and ideas that are mentioned several
times by dierent people.
Putting the Findings Together
Once you have looked at the ndings separately by method, it is time
to put the results together. Now look for similarities and dierences.
What were the major ndings from each method? Are these ndings
similar or were there dierences?
It is possible some ndings contradict other ndings. For example, a
document review could identify bankruptcy as a major issue for your
county. However, you conducted several focus groups, and focus group
members did not feel bankruptcy was important. They did not see a
need for programming for this issue. Your Advisory Committee also
felt that overall resource management specically relating to spending
food dollars wisely was more important. It is important to keep in
mind that some issues are sensitive and might not emerge from focus
groups or open listening sessions. People might react more positively
to programs that deal with issues from a broader standpoint rather
than bankruptcy class. The sections on setting priorities provide tips
for dealing with needs assessments that include contradictory ndings.
Because needs assessments take time and resources, it is important
to share results with others in the community. Key stakeholders who
have an interest in community issues should be informed through
meetings and reports. Reports are helpful because you can articulate
the needs in the community as well as demonstrate ways Extension
can help meet those needs. Newsletters and media reports can reach
a broader audience and can help you promote Extension because you
can explain your involvement with the community as well as inform
the community about programs to address those needs.
Tailor the report to the specic audience. For example, reports to
stakeholders and consumers need to be short and contain charts and
other graphics summarizing ndings. Reports to a specic funder
might need to be more detailed.
Numbers and statements work together well. Numbers tell what is
going on, but statements can illustrate those numbers. For example,
perhaps you have the obesity rate from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) for your county, and it’s 33 percent for adults.
One of the responses from a Tennessee Nutrition and Consumer
Education Program (TNCEP) coalition member states, “A major
problem here is that there is not a grocery store. Even if people want
to eat better it’s hard to buy healthy foods.” This participant statement
Communicating the
Results of the
Needs Assessment
50
illustrates one of the reasons for the obesity issue in your community.
The statement also highlights a potential solution that could be
addressed by community members and politicians who could use it to
advocate for grocery stores.
Consider a “size and seriousness” test to set priorities for
programming:
• Size: What is the percentage of the population aected by
the issue…from 1 percent to 100 percent? Assign ranks to the
issues based on the size of the population aected; 100 percent
would be assigned a 1 and the next ascending percentage would
be assigned 2, etc.
• Seriousness: What is the urgency of this issue? To what degree
will it aect the quality of life, environment and/or economy?
Assign ranks to the issues based on the seriousness; 1 would be
assigned to the most urgent issue, 2 would be assigned to the
issue judged to be the next most urgent, etc.
• Finally, add the two ranks together. The issue with the lowest
score is the priority issue.
Another strategy is the PEARL Test. PEARL is an acronym for
propriety, economics, acceptability, resources and legality. Use this
series of questions to evaluate each issue systematically and determine
the priority issue:
• Propriety: Is a program for this issue suitable? Can the issue
be solved through education (as education is the business of
Extension)?
• Economics: Does it make economic sense to address this
problem? Are there economic consequences if a program is not
conducted?
• Acceptability: Will this program be accepted in the
community? Can any barriers to acceptability be overcome?
• Resources: Do we have what we need to conduct the program?
• Legality: Do current laws allow program activities to be
implemented?
Setting Priorities
Both the “size and seriousness test” and the PEARL test were adapted
from the National Association of County and City Health Ocials
(2016).
•
•
•
51
Another example is re safety. After three home res in one month
in one neighborhood, an Extension agent used community resources
to conduct a countywide re safety program. The timing of the res
presented a teachable moment (Donaldson, 2008). What are some
teachable moments happening now in your community?
Sometimes it’s helpful to think about specic, teachable moments
that reect the needs of a specic audience. You can take advantage of
teachable moments based on human development or current events.
In the case of parenting education, what is the most teachable moment
for teaching how to parent an adolescent? Is it before a couple gives
birth to their rst child or before their rst child starts middle school?
For most parents, it’s before their rst child starts middle school.
Just before and during the adolescence of their rst child is likely a
teachable moment. Just before birth, parents are likely consumed with
getting ready for their rst child and getting information on pregnancy
care and child care in the rst few days and weeks of life. These two
examples illustrate the essence of teachable moments.
Teachable Moments
52
Worksheet: Thinking About Teachable Moments
What activities or events have been aected by the weather?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
What have been the biggest headlines this year in community blogs or newspapers?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
What news events are topics of conversation?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
What other recent events are aecting your county?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
53
Additional Resources
• The REACH program is dedicated to supporting military
families through research and outreach. The University of
Minnesota’s REACH program has a series of “how-to guides”
about reading and interpreting research articles. Sample guides
include Understanding Correlation: A How-to Guide and
Understanding Statistical Language: A How-to Guide. Visit:
reachmilitaryfamilies.umn.edu/research/how-to-guides
• University of Tennessee Institutional Review Board, Oce of
Research and Engagement. Visit: irb.utk.edu
• Random Number Generator. Available at: random.org/
MindTools
• The Future Wheel: Identifying Future Consequences of Change.
Available at: mindtools.com/pages/article/futures-wheel.htm
54
UT Extension acknowledges the work of many people who made this
publication possible. This includes feedback from an expert review
team and more than 100 Tennessee Extension professionals who
attended a needs assessment inservice, used drafts of the publication,
and provided input. The work of Dr. Natalie Bumgarner and Dr.
Joseph Donaldson provided Figures 6, 7, 8 and 9 from their needs
assessment study of Tennessee Extension Master Gardeners. Finally,
UT Extension acknowledges the expertise and contributions of the
UTIA Marketing and Communications personnel.
Acknowledgements
55
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Notes
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